Working in a Series

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Summer can be busy and it was nice to have a little project on the go. Something to tinker with whenever I passed through the studio -- but not too messy -- and easy to start and stop. Little collages fit the bill. And, as British artist Louise Fletcher advises when you're waiting to start the next "big" thing, in the meantime do something you love.

For me, it's cutting up paper! Not ripping or tearing, but cutting. With my trusty paper cutter, this handful of papers:

became this:

Not having a clue where I was going, I used the metal guide on the cutter and reduced old gel prints, clean up sheets, book pages, vintage paper -- whatever was at hand -- to 1.25-inch (about 3cm) strips.

It was fun to sort through the strips -- all colours and patterns -- and see if I could find four or five that went together and "told a story." As mentioned before, I do like a mix of commercially-printed and found ephemera and my own hand-printed papers. There's something appealing about the mix of organic and graphic shapes.

I cut down some of the strips to a height of 9cm so I could play around on a 5x7-inch card blank. Like this:

Then I made some of the strips even narrower and, after a bit, ended up with a few cards like this:

I trialed butting the strips and also leaving a tiny space. Then I went to four strips, this time keeping them the same width. Again, tried both tight and with the white space.

Something was taking shape for me and I realized, on the some level, I was referencing the folding screens I'd looked at in a book on Japanese art. Just like that, a series was developing!

The sombre tones, like above, seem to be my go-to palette, but I made an effort to make some light-hearted combinations too.

The collage below was one of those happy accidents. Notice how the curve of the white leaf in the right hand strip follows all the way through the composition. The strips were all pre-cut so it was just luck and happenstance!

Working in a series lets you take risks (especially with small pieces like mine) and experiment with colour. Look at these warm tones -- not my usual palette:

And fun with neutrals:

Found I preferred a bit of white between the panels and tried different ways to get even spacing. Like below, using a see-through "zero in the middle" ruler: 

In the end, the simplest method (finding the middle of the card and working out from there) gave me the most even results. I worked fast and intuitively, hunting for a mix of pattern and colour that spoke to me. I took chances and auditioned unlikely combinations just to see how they worked together. Like this one:

A lot of pattern! But hoping the mix of gold and aqua ties everything together. And then this one where I "bookend" commercial paper with printed paper:

And this bright one (I liked it!) with a hand-carved dragonfly stamp:

Hoping these small collages appear effortless and spontaneous. But, for me, there's a surprising amount of consideration behind the scenes. It's the rare composition that just comes together on its own. It happens but that's a gift! The rest of the time, it's a shell game, moving pieces until suddenly something clicks. It's funny, it's often easy to put three strips together but that fourth -- the one that ties everything together -- is elusive! Thanks so much for following along and if you'd like a close up look there are two videos below.

See you soon!